The world of in Injustice tore apart allies, friends, and even families. It also caused the death of several DC icons.
But as dark as that world is, it’s not the only one where tragedy tore apart the DCU. Throughout the multiverse, there are plenty of other Earths that are just as bad, if not worse than the one home to Superman’s Regime. Read on to see 13 other continuities darker than Injustice.
13 JLA: Created Equal
In JLA: Created Equal, half of the greatest heroes in the DC Universe died before the story even started. A plague ravages Earth and kills off every male in the world, save for Superman and Lex Luthor. While the world moves on, Superman laments for the deaths of his friends and family. Things also get worse with the arrival of the next generation of males, who Lex attempts to manipulate into a literal war of the sexes.
12 Superman: Red Son
Superman being raised by Ma and Pa Kent helped turn him into the man he is today. But Superman: Red Son posited a world in which the hero didn’t land in Smallville, but rather behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War. In this world, Superman helped the Soviet Union become the dominating superpower of the world. He also led the government, instituting horrifying ways of maintaining his control, such as brain surgery for political dissidents.
11 The Superman Monster
In the spirit of old Victorian horror stories, The Superman Monster completely reinvents the Man of Steel and turns him into a terrifying ghoul. Much like Frankenstein, Lex Luthor decides to use science to go against the natural order and revive a dead body, using the remains of a rocket and the dead infant it held. While the being Luthor creates does have the spirit of Superman, it’s quite a frightening spin on the beloved hero.
10 Batman: I, Joker
Batman: I, Joker is an Elseworlds story set in the far future of Gotham where the current Batman is a demented cult leader known as the Bruce. Spurred on by tales of the original Batman, the Bruce has people surgically altered and brainwashed to look and act like the original Batman's villains. The only one who doesn’t have their memory wiped is a freedom fighter known as Joe Collins who tries to topple the Bruce’s empire as a new, heroic Joker
9 Batman/Lobo
The Main Man Lobo is the most well-known bounty hunter in the DC Universe. And in Batman/Lobo, he’s hired by the Joker to take out the Dark Knight once and for all. Though Batman and his allies manage to keep the hunter on the ropes, Lobo kills Nightwing and Robin. To make things even worse, Batman discovered that the Joker is actually his long-lost twin brother, Joey Wayne.
8 Superman: The Dark Side
Being raised by anyone else other than the Kents is usually bad news for Superman, and one of the worst beings to get their hands on an infant Kal-El was seen in Superman: The Dark Side. In this world, baby Kal-El’s rocket is intercepted and brought to Apokolips, where the hero instead grows up to be the most elite soldier in Darkseid's army. While Superman eventually finds his way to the light, he helped make Darkseid an even more terrifying presence than he already is.
7 Batman: Holy Terror
The world seen in Batman: Holy Terror presented a world where the heroes of the DC Universe live under a theocracy. Rather than a random mugging, Batman’s parents were killed as part of a state-sanctioned execution for their beliefs. Numerous heroes also met dark fates such as Green Arrow, who was hanged for publishing subversive material, and Superman, who was killed after the state couldn’t get him under control.
6 DCeased
DCeased is a horrifying tale in which the DC Universe comes under attack by a corrupted form of the Anti-Life Equation. One-by-one, heroes and villains alike become undead monsters that kill everything in sight. No one was safe in this tragic story, not even the Justice League. While new heroes rose to fight Erebos, the ultimate source of the Anti-Life Equation, many of DC's legends were tragically lost.
5 Flashpoint
The Flash’s life was ruined by his longtime villain, the Reverse-Flash. Barry Allen traveled back in time to undo his mother’s murder at Eobard Thawne’s hand. But in doing so, he created a diverging and unstable timeline. The Flashpoint universe was devoid of many of its greatest heroes. Superman spent his life imprisoned, Bruce Wayne died in Crime Alley, and Aquaman and Wonder Woman were manipulated into a war that nearly destroyed the Earth.
4 DC vs. Vampires
Nightwing is the heart of the DC Universe, but in DC vs. Vampires, he broke the hearts of fans everywhere. Things were bad enough in this world, which was overrun by a plague of vampirism that turned many iconic heroes and villains into bloodsucking ghouls. But leading this effort was Nightwing, aka the Vampire King. He secretly amassed a swarm of vampiric allies before killing his former mentor in an unbelievable betrayal.
